COVER N. 330 - INDONESIA

Postmark: Malang 29.08.2023

Posted on the 29th August; received on the 9th October 2023

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Indonesia. Quite a distant country from where I stand and it does show in the amount of time the very nice cover Irene sent me took to get to my letterbox. Thanks a lot, Irene!

When deciding what themes to concentrate our attention on, hard choices have always to be made. I am a "things that fly" fan and so I always try to not let myself get carried away by images of ships, cars, buses, bikes and so on,  but  just from looking at the beautiful stamps on Irene's cover, it is hard not to think about starting a collection of train themed stamps.... but then again, I think this happens with any beautiful stamp than I happen to settle my eyes on, irrespective of the theme it covers...😀

- The two se-tenant 3000 Rupiah stamps were issued by Indonesia Post on 28SEP2018. 

The stamp on the left is illustrated with an image of the Light Rail Transit train which began to operate in Indonesia in 2018, in Palembang, South Sumatra.

The stamp on the right is illustrated with the image of a Rail Clinic train. Quoting direct from a dispatch of Antara, the Indonesian news Agency, dated of the 5th March 2020: "State railway company PT Kereta Api Indonesia (KAI) began operating the so-called "Rail Clinic" on Thursday as part of the precautionary measures against the spread of coronavirus (Covid-19) at stations and other railway facilities."

There were two trains assigned to this purpose, operating on Java's southern and Northern lines, providing health services and counselling to the population, within the framework of the fight against the Covid-19 pandemic.

- The single stamp souvenir sheet with a face value of 2500 Rupiah was issued on 10AUG1998. On the same date a set of ten 300 Rupiah stamps with images of several locomotives and carriages was also issued by the Indonesian Postal Services.

The illustration on the stamp depicts the first Locomotive to operate in Indonesia, NIS-1, NIS standing for Nederlandsch-Indische Spoorwegmaatschappij (Netherlands-Indies Railway Company). 

- To complete postage, Irene used a 500 Rupiah stamp issued on 06MAR2023, illustrated with the image of a Dutch era letterbox.